AN Accra Magistrate Court, on Friday convicted nine persons to a total fine of GH¢1,440.00 for various offences including burning of refuse in the open, lack of toilet facility and discharging liquid waste into the public drain.

In the first case, the convicts were said to have burnt refuse in the open exposing the public to danger.

Prosecuting, Linda Kumbuno of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Health (AMA) Department told the court, presided over by Mr. Kenneth Otchere Aboagye that environmental health officers in-charge of the Ablekuma area conducted a routine inspection on March 23, 2016.

She said the officers found Latif and his accomplices deliberately burning refuse in the open, adding that they refused to sign in to the polluter pays system of the AMA, which is aimed at curbing indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

She said such conduct not only exposes members of the public to danger but leads to the loss of lives and property during heavy rains.

Mrs. Kumbuno said a summons was served on the accused for not showing up in court.

In the second case, the prosecutor told the court that Phillip and two others, who were occupants of a house at Laterbiokoshie, lived in the said house without an approved toilet facility.

She said a team of Health Inspection Officers cautioned the three for indiscriminate defecation and disobeying AMA bye laws which mandates every household to provide a toilet for its occupants. They were also served a statutory notice to construct a toilet facility, but the order was flouted.

In the case of Phillip, Daniel and Abigial, the prosecutor said, they were charged for emptying their septic tank into a public drain in front of their house, causing public health nuisance.

She said the environmental health officers who conducted routine inspection in the area on March 23, 2016, subsequently served a notice on the accused, but the three failed to abide by the order.